Disclaimer: You know what's not mine. Everything else I claim.
neoKOS-MOS: So, I said I was taking a few days off, but that didn't happen. In a fit of inspiration, I sat down and wrote this all out in two days. I really like this chapter. It's different, and fast paced. And I decided to get back to the basics. Used a non-original digimon for once, and tried my hand at card fighting.
Hope you like it. Read on.
Danger in the Shadows
Rika's eyes snapped open. She was lying in bed late at night. It was quiet in her room, and she could hear the crickets chirping outside. Despite the safe sounds, she couldn't fight off the strange feeling that something was going to happen, something foreboding and dark. The girl looked over at the corner of the room, searching for her digimon. She sat slumped against the wall, eyes closed and twitching as she slept. Even though no danger had awoken the fox to protect her partner, the fear didn't leave Rika. She had a terrifying feeling that something was about to go wrong.
"The power's out." Torey whispered, his ashy head poking out from under the blankets.
Rika looked over at her alarm clock. The display was black, no red numbers glowing beneath the glass. She glanced at the window, and noticed that the lights outside were off as well. It was all too dark for her taste.
The girl sat up, and then stood, staring at the door for a while before raising the courage to take the first step toward it. She paced barefoot across the cold floor and stood at the door, one palm pressed against its surface. She set her ear to the thin wood and listened for a second. Nothing. The crickets were still chirping, and she could hear the trickle of water in the pond outside.
Torey pressed himself against her leg, and she could feel his little heart beating quickly, faster than her own, but not by much. He was scared too. But whatever it was that was out there, they had to find out what was going to happen. It was a seer's duty. She pressed her hand more firmly on the door and slid it open an inch, just enough to peek out. It was too dark to see anything but shadow. There was no movement, so she slid it open a little further and stepped out, bare feet on the chilly wooden floor.
She looked around, eyes wide in the darkness to catch any light they could. Nothing. But it was too dark, too still for her.
"Rika?" Torey breathed, his feline voice barely audible even in the intense silence.
"Shhh." Came a whisper from the bushes.
Rika jumped to get back inside, to the safety her digimon provided. Why had she come out alone? Before she could move, a dark shape shot out of the bushes and pinned her against the wall. A thin hand clamped itself over her mouth, and pulled her lower. Her knees buckled and she found herself almost sitting, still held firmly in place against the wall.
"No!" Torey yelled, bristling, and launched himself at Rika's attacker. Claws sunk into strange leathery skin.
But a torrent of foreign emotions flooded into Rika's mind as her soul touched another creature. Anger. Sadness. Confusion. Fear. Hope. Sincerity. Trust. Friendship. Good intentions over shrouding the darker feelings, so that they faded away, and only the good was left.
"Torey, no!" The girl screamed as they both realized that this was not an attacker, but a friend. The lynx fell away, and Rika collapsed against the wall, no longer pinned by the other being.
"Who are you?" She asked, still unable to make out the shape of the person before her in the darkness.
"I'm," he said, dark form shifting around. "I'm Sky."
Rika was struck as she recognized the voice. It was the one they had heard over the intercom while at MIRROR. The one that had cut the conversation short. He sounded so young, like a child, and with a strange, barely noticeable accent.
"You're from MIRROR." She whispered, squinting to see him in the dark. He looked strange.
"Yeah. Ouch." The figure twisted around again, and she guessed that he was tending to the cuts Torey had inflicted. "Sorry I scared you. I just didn't want anyone to hear. We're in danger here, and we should leave."
The girl blinked, and nodded. "Can I get some stuff?"
"Yeah. Get your digivice and cards. There might be some fighting we have to do."
Rika stood and slipped back into her room. It was darker inside, but she knew where everything was, one of the ups of keeping a clean room. She grabbed her digivice and cards from the dresser, and took her gym shoes from where they sat by the door. Then she went over to her sleeping digimon.
"Renamon." The girl whispered, unnerved that the fox was still sleeping despite the struggle that had happened a moment before. Big eyes opened, gleaming in the darkness, and the digimon looked up at her. "We have to go."
Silently, Rika turned back to the doorway and emerged outside. Through the floorboards, she felt Sky step up next to her.
"Quietly." The childlike voice whispered. "Try to follow me. I'll be watching you, so you won't get lost in the dark."
She opened her mouth to ask him why the power was out, but saw a hint of his dark shape streak across the yard toward the gate. She set her shoes on the ground and pulled them on before running off after him, glad she hadn't left them at the front entrance. Stopping at the gate, Rika looked both ways down the street, wondering where Sky had gone.
"Here." He said, making her jump as his voice came from right next to her, concealed in the dark.
Again, she barely saw him run off down the road, and followed as best she could. They ran down the roadway until they reached the city, and Rika followed Sky's ghosting shadow through the empty streets. At corners, she would lose him, to find him running back to get her. It was so dark with the street lights out; even the stoplights were black as night. There was no one on the street either. Rika had no idea what time it was, but even if it was one in the morning, there should have been some people on the street. And there were no cars driving about either, the lack of their headlights making the city feel like a ghost town. The sense of foreboding hit her again.
Sky appeared next to her.
"Where is everyone?" She whispered to his barely-visible shape.
"They've been sent to their homes. Nerezzamon doesn't like people interfering in his search."
Rika felt a shiver go up her spine at the tone of his voice as he breathed the name. "Search?"
"For you. And the other Tamers." His shape moved forward, walking slowly for once. The girl paced next to him. "I'm sorry. We would have warned you earlier, but we didn't know he was going to attack so soon."
The girl suddenly realized that his voice was coming from lower, about her chest level. She looked harder at his blurry shape, and saw that it wasn't human. "Are you a digimon?" She asked, startled that he wasn't what she had thought he was.
He said nothing, but a smile had touched his voice as he spoke. "You'll see." Again, he streaked ahead of her.
She ran after the dark shape, heart beating in her chest. Feet ghosting over cement and tile, Renamon was trailing her along the rooftops. Suddenly, Rika felt something large and cruel come out of the darkness. A giant clawed hand reached out of the shadows and grabbed at her. She felt the chill of crimson talons wrap around her waist, and screamed for her digimon. There was the glint of reflected light as shards of glass flew into the dark. The enemy digimon roared and dropped his captive.
Rika scrambled to her feet and raced away from the spot. She saw Renamon's lighter shape move between her and the creature in the darkness. Heart beating loud in her chest, the girl pulled her digivice out of a pocket and looked down at it. The glow from it's display lit up the street as the data scrolled across.
"Devidramon." She whispered, trying to calm down. He was only champion, easy pickings for her partner.
Renamon leapt backward as the dark dragon lunged forward to attack her. A flash of deep red ripped through the air as the fox moved out of the way. She sent another of hail of diamond flying toward him, but Devidramon growled and flapped his tattered black wings. A gale of dark energy ripped through the shards and struck Renamon. Wind whirled around Rika, and she squeezed her eyes closed as dust was thrust into them.
When she got her sight back, the girl stared into the darkness, trying to make out what was going on. She heard both the dragon and fox yelling out their attacks as they fought, but could only see blurs of dark and pale. There was a sort of black mist in the air.
"Rika."
The girl jumped, letting out a yelp as she heard Sky speak next to her. She pressed a hand to her chest and looked down at his shadowy form.
"Sorry." He whispered. "I forget you can't see me. We should get out of here. It's not safe with so much noise."
"What about Renamon?"
There was a thud a few yards away, and Rika looked over to see her partner's pale form limp on the ground. She pulled her cards out and tried to look through them, but couldn't see anything.
"Here." Sky said, taking them from her and shuffling through them. "Use this one." He handed one back to her before returning the rest of her deck.
The girl slashed it through her digivice and looked over to her digimon to see what she had used. Renamon pulled herself to a standing position as her left hand began to glow. Pale pink light flooded the area and a bow began to grow from the paw. Rika looked down at the card between her fingers. It was Angewomon's Bow. She glanced over to her other side to look at Sky, but the creature had disappeared again.
They were standing in the middle of an intersection, the four corners of the street just visible inside the circle of light. Renamon pulled back on the bowstring, and a pink arrow formed along her arm. Devidramon reared back and took to the air, trying to escape the attack. Taking aim, the fox loosed the arrow, and watched as the pink-lit shaft shot up into the darkness, sinking deep into the black dragon.
The weapon dissolved, plunging the battlefield back into pitch darkness. A crash sounded, Devidramon falling back to earth. Eyes shocked by the sudden presence and then loss of light, Rika squinted to see her partner. After a second, she saw the fox kneeling down, tired.
"He's stronger than he should be, Rika." She called.
There was a reptilian laugh as the dragon overheard. "We are all serving under lord Nerezzamon. Would you think he would let ordinary digimon fight amongst his ranks?"
A flash of bright red cut through the darkness, and Devidramon's gaze struck Renamon directly. She cried out and fell backwards. Rika heard the scratch of painted nails across the asphalt, and knew he was approaching to finish her partner off. Panicked, she shuffled blind through her deck again, hoping to find another good card. She took one and slashed it through her digivice, but nothing seemed to happen.
"No!" The girl yelled, knowing Devidramon was very close.
But her shout was echoed by Sky, whose voice came from the spot where Renamon had collapsed.
The black dragon laughed, the sound coming from almost over the two. "You and I are so alike. Why do you work with those light worshipers?"
"I'm nothing like you." Sky returned defiantly.
A screeching noise ripped through the air. It was pitched horribly high and was extremely loud. Rika slapped her hands over her ears and winced at the sound. Devidramon howled and reared back. He roared again, most likely covering his own ears as well.
The girl stared into the darkness. Was that Sky's attack? Was he really a digimon? The sound was coming from where his voice had been a second ago. She moaned, sinking to the ground and feeling nauseous at the high pitched screech. It seemed to go on for hours, the sounds of Devidramon's howl doing nothing to overpower it.
"Quiet!" The dragon roared, slashing in dull red at Sky.
A lightning-bright yellow flash pierced the darkness. Devidramon's attack collided with a hemispherical shield of crackling yellow electricity. The screeching sound stopped. For a split second, Rika saw that there were now three beings before the black dragon. Renamon still lay limp on the ground. The other two were unfamiliar. The taller one looked like a black kangaroo, very thin, with large ears. It screamed and shuttered painfully. The other was definitely a digimon, a creature somewhere between canine and reptilian, almost chameleon-like. He was about the size of a large dog, and his skin was bright yellow with spider-webbing black stripes. He had a frill around his neck and had the remnants of wings on his back, only the ribbing left without membrane. The street plunged again into deep blackness as the shield blinked out.
"Sky, run!" Ordered a new voice, deep baritone.
There was a whimper, and Rika heard pebbles of asphalt scatter as feet scampered over the ground. Angry, Devidramon slashed out again, and his attack struck the electric yellow barrier for a second time. A crackling sound rose off the surface as the dragon pressed harder, trying to break through. The chameleon digimon stood in the center of the forcefield, with only Renamon beside him. He was glaring up at the four scarlet eyes staring back down at him. Squaring his canine shoulders, he raised the tattered wings.
"Leave now, and I'll let you live."
The black dragon laughed, snarling in the yellow glare. "What makes you think you can defeat me?"
The chameleon smiled and spread the bones of his wings. Each reached almost his body length, and a crackling of saffron electricity leapt between the ribs, creating a glowing wing. The barrier fell, and the smaller digimon leapt out of the way. He flapped his wings at the ground, and arcs of buzzing energy leapt along the asphalt, reaching up to zap Devidramon's feet.
The dark creature roared and sent a glaring red attack toward his opponent. The yellow digimon leapt aside and shook himself. The frill around his neck electrified, sending bright yellow energy zapping over his own skin. It concentrated itself into a white-hot glowing ball on his tail. The chameleon turned to the side and flicked the orb at Devidramon. The black dragon turned to run, but the sphere collided with his back, and electricity ran through his body. Dark data began dissolving off the larger creature even before he hit the ground.
The yellow digimon stood still, cracklingly bright wings raised until all of Devidramon's data had disappeared back into the digital world. Then, he sighed and lowered his wings, the saffron light blinking out and plunging the area back into the deep blackness.
"Sky, are you all right?" She heard him call out.
There was a moan that sounded like it came from within a building, and then the other creature answered. "Chispamon, help me."
Rika blinked in the dark. Chispamon? That was Randy's digimon, wasn't it?
He sighed and she heard his scratching footsteps move toward her. A scaly head touched her hand.
"Rika, you should give Renamon an energy boost so we can get you guys to safety."
"I," she swallowed. "I can't see."
There was an electric sound, and an amber light crackled across his nose, giving her enough light to see. She stared at his reptilian face for a moment, until he motioned for her to look through her cards. The girl shuffled through them until she found the card she was looking for. The light crackled out as she swiped it through her digivice, giving Renamon more energy.
"Come on." The chameleon whispered, and she felt his tail sweep by her hand.
Grabbing onto the tip of it, the girl followed him as he walked. It seemed even darker now, after all the light during the battle. They walked over to the sidewalk, and Rika stepped up onto it, tripping over the curb. She felt Renamon's hand steady her, and looked over. She couldn't see the fox, but knew she was there.
"Ouch." Chispamon said, stopping abruptly. "Stupid wall." He muttered before calling out. "Sky, where are you?"
"Here." The childlike voice answered, slightly muffled and with a hint of pain.
The chameleon grumbled and Rika heard his scaly paws scrape across the wall, feeling for the door. He found it and pulled it open, a glint of reflected light shining off the glass as he did. The two females followed him inside as he again felt along the walls, looking for another door.
"Sky?"
"Here." He called again, voice coming right next to Rika.
She turned and pressed her hands against the wall next to her, and soon found the door to the room. She twisted the doorknob and opened it.
Sky's little voice moaned again in the pitch black of the room. Chispamon scuttled by Rika's leg and went inside.
"You're okay." He said.
"It hurts though." The younger voice replied, hurt.
"You've been in brighter light for longer before."
"Yeah, but you don't understand. It burns!"
"Come on, Sky. We've got a job to do." There were sounds of movement, most likely Chispamon pushing his friend to his feet.
"I'm blind." Sky whispered.
"It's okay. Use your other sense to see. We have to get them to safety."
There was a sigh, and then a quiet chirp echoed in the room. Footsteps approached.
"Come on, Rika." The young voice whispered, and he slipped his thin hand into hers, leading her outside.
They left the building, and Chispamon set the wrist of one of his wings into her other hand. It was darker now than ever. "Hurry up, Sky, before Nerezzamon finds us. His mist is really thickening."
There was another chirp, and Sky pulled at the girl's hand, leading her through the dark. His pace was quick, and she had to jog to keep up. They raced on like that for a few minutes, the air getting blacker all the time. Rika felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck, and got that sick nervous felling in her stomach. Something bad was coming.
Hurry, she willed.
"Okay." Sky whispered, slowing to a stop.
He released her hand and she heard him take something out. There was a familiar noise, the sound of a digivice forming the cutting blade, but no light at all. After a second, she heard the muffled noise of a quiet buzzing.
"Come on, Rika. Step through." Sky whispered.
"What?"
"Here." He said, taking her arm and leading her toward something. "Now step through."
She did so, and felt the ends of her shoes brush over the invisible barrier between worlds. "What is this?"
"Sit down." He whispered, pulling her lightly down, and then pushing her toward the floor. She slowly obeyed.
The girl heard Chispamon jump through and felt the presence of Renamon next to her. Again, there was the sound of the rip closing, but no light of the energy blade. It was still black.
"What is this?" She demanded.
"Be patient." The electric digimon said. "Sky, hurry up and get that thing on."
Rika sat quietly on the floor, listening intently to the sounds coming from a few yards away. It sounded like the movement of a heavy fabric. There was the zip of zippers and click of buckles, and then silence.
"Okay." The young voice whispered.
"Finally." Chispamon said, and the room filled with light.
Rika winced at the sudden brightness, but had too many questions to shut her eyes at it. They were in a box-shaped blue room, with a flight of stairs in the center leading up the ceiling. Along one wall were a few black things, suits perhaps, of thick velvet-like fabric. Chispamon stood by the stairs, one claw still on a light switch. Renamon stood next to her, and Rika whirled around to see the other person in the room, the one she had only seen shrouded in darkness before.
Sky stood by the wall that had the black cloth things hanging on it. He was definitely not human. He looked much like a kangaroo, with a long tail and neck, supported by long nimble legs. He was wearing one of the black suits, which covered him from head to toe, leaving nothing exposed. It was a complicated thing, with numerous buckles and zippers. His large head had two large horns poking up out of the cloth, deep sooty black, and curved forward. Over his eyes, were large reflective lenses. Rika stared.
The creature laughed. "I always think it's funny that new recruits think the entire universe is populated by human beings."
"You're not a digimon?" She asked, shocked.
He shook his covered head.
"You're an alien." The girl said, a little horror flooding into her voice.
Sky laughed again. "No. I come from Earth, just like you do." He stepped up closer to her, and she didn't allow herself to flinch. "My world number is 972. It's a high energy world, where the sun is underdeveloped, by your standards, and thick brown clouds blanket the sky. We feed mostly by photosynthesis of our sun's light, what gets down to the surface. Bright light burns our skin, so we wear these lightsuits when we work in bright worlds."
Rika stared at him. After a moment's hesitation, she set a hand on his head, touching the thick fabric. It was soft. The girl ran her hands down his neck, and then back up to the horns.
"What are these for?" She asked as they swiveled.
"They help me see. We can see by either echolocation or sight. Except, Chispamon's shield blinded me temporarily." He glanced over at the electric lizard.
"Whatever." The digimon replied. "You would have been more than blind if I hadn't saved you." He turned and walked over to climb the stairs. "Come on, Rika. The transition world has defenses, but you'll be safer at MIRROR."
She looked around and then glanced at her digivice. Sure enough, it read 129. "It doesn't look like the transition world."
Sky motioned her up the stairs, so she ran up after Chispamon. He touched the ceiling and it peeled open to expose the black-blue sky of the transition world. The two of them stepped outside, followed by Renamon. Sky shut off the light and ran up the stairs after them, letting the floor peel shut again. They were on one of the blue energy platforms.
Rika turned back to the alien earthling. "I dreamt about you."
He cocked his head to the side. "Really?"
"Months ago. I thought it had nothing to do with anything, but now I think I understand. It was hinting at this."
He nodded, looking off into the distance to check for the train. "What happened?"
"Nothing bad. I just saw you, and a strange smoky meadow."
Sky twitched his long tail. "That must have been my world. Maybe you'll go there some day."
The violet eyed girl heard a whoosh behind her, and knew the train had arrived. "Where's everybody else?" She asked as she turned to board. "I thought you said the other Tamers were in danger too. Where are they?"
Chispamon stepped onto the cerulean train. "We got them out first. They're either on their way, or already safe at MIRROR."
Renamon followed him inside, and Rika did the same. She sat where she had last time, watching as the electric digimon leapt up and lounged sideways across from her. Sky stepped in and held onto one of the poles with a gloved hand, his three fingers wrapping around the pale blue metal. The girl ran a hand through her hair, and realized that she was still in her pajamas. She frowned and rubbed her eyes, hoping she didn't look too bad for being pulled out of bed in the middle of the night. Suddenly, another question came to mind.
"Sky, what am I supposed to call you?"
His tail flicked to the side as the doors snapped shut. The train took off, and Sky looked at her, the mask of his lightsuit moving slightly as his mouth did beneath it. "The humans call me a heliophobe."
Rika fell into deep thought as the train sped off toward the elevator.
neoKOS-MOS: Did anyone remember the dream she had at the end of WWRT? Well, anyway, I thought that was really fun. Nice fighting and interesting stuff. It was hard to make Sky seem so ethereal at times, but I think I pulled it off. Speaking of him, what do you think? I thought that perhaps it was time something really different came into the picture. But, anyway, the next chapter will be interesting. Maybe we'll meet MIRROR member number five, the last member. I'm still thinking about it.
Dark Qiviut: Thanks again for all the suggestions. I still have a lot of thinking to do, but I'm getting this fleshed out. And, I know I'm working with a lot of characters here. So many. But, that's good for me. They'll get split up, and I'm using three groups now, instead of four. Too many subplots.
Review on your way out… Where is everybody?